Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Thirty-Three: Gladrags Wizards Wear

Poppy was holding my arm tightly through hers as she dragged me down the Hogsmead High Street on Tuesday afternoon, the cold wind whipping around us harshly. My cheeks were pink where the wind kissed them, and I tried to burrow deeper into my scarf.

The village was littered with carved pumpkins, their candles flickering happily, the aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg wafting from The Three Broomsticks. Halloween was approaching fast, bringing with it the delicious scents of fall and the merry decorations.

Regardless of how much I loved the village this time of year, I was anxious to be out.

"I don't really think now's the time for dress shopping, Poppy," I sighed, looking around nervously. "Sebastian and Ominis will be livid we left without telling them."

"Oh hush," my best friend said with a roll of her eyes. "Ominis won't be pleased, but Sebastian won't tell you no to anything."

This was true a majority of the time, with Sebastian generally not one to decline things I asked for. But wandering through a poacher infested Hogsmead without at least telling the brunette in question was not a good idea right now.

Only this morning we'd gathered together in the library, Sebastian's arms loaded full of books from the Restricted Section to rifle through to finish our essays.

"According to Anne," he'd said, as he placed a small black book in front of me with a pointed look. I snatched it from him and rifled through the pages as he continued to speak. Some pages I recognized, others I didn't. What I did recognize, was Sebastian's handwriting. "There's a lot of talk in Feldcroft about increased poacher activity along the route to Hogsmead, in the hamlets and in the village itself."

"Really?" I asked, slightly alarmed, closing the notebook rapidly. What if they'd seen us arriving in Feldcroft? What if they'd seen us enter the catacomb?

It had been a few days since our trip there, since I'd completed the required dark sacrifice to bind ourselves to the dark magic and it's power. Nothing had happened, no traces of magic had appeared, no desire to follow another wisp.

I was getting anxious.

He shot me another look, plainly telling me to get it together as Poppy pulled two books from his hands. "I still don't love you two going," he sighed. "But if you're still mad enough to want to, I think it's best if you aren't out in the village until you go."

I glared at him here, "We can handle ourselves."

"I know that. I just think it's too risky to go without the two of us. The larger the party closest to Hogwarts, the better."

"I quite agree," Ominis said, his wand tip pressed against the open page of a book who's pages were burnt. Poppy whipped her furious glare to him, which I knew he could feel and was choosing to ignore. "We should stay together out in the village."

Arguments had been flung across the table at each party, Poppy and I both furious with the arrangement. She knew it would be harder to contact our centaur friend with more wizards, concerned with her ability to know what the herd had heard. I, on the other hand, was livid at the lack of freedom. I had never done well with being told what to do, and that was not going to get any easier with the magic now pulsing furiously through my body.

Nonetheless, we'd been beaten down, and reluctantly had agreed to the boys terms.

No wandering alone. No going to the village without them. No late night Floo Flame travels. No leaving the castle without telling, even if it was just via owl.

And yet, here we were, cloaks pulled tightly around our bodies, hands stuffed into gloves, huddled closely together against the cold as we rushed up the street to Gladrags Wizard Wear hours later, no notes to the boys having been sent.